Depression of chemiluminescence response in mouse spleen cells by infective and inactivated influenza virus.

The effect on respiratory burst of murine splenic cells after exposure to influenza viruses was studied by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (CL). Infectious influenza A and B viruses considerably depressed the zymosan-induced CL response of the cells. Commercially available trivalent influenza virus vaccines also depressed CL activity. The whole-virus vaccine induced the greatest inhibition of the CL response, followed by the subunit and the split-virus vaccines. Virus-induced depression of CL was observed in the unseparated and in the granulocyte-enriched populations but no apparent effect was found in the lymphocyte-enriched populations. Prior sensitization of mice with representative, inactivated prototype strains of human influenza A and B viruses depressed the moderate CL induced by infectious influenza viruses. These results indicate that both infectious and inactivated influenza viruses impair the generation of the respiratory burst.